                (1) Field of the Invention        
The invention relates to centralized management of telecommunications parameters in various wireless telecommunications networks and to their distribution to terminals in the various networks.                (2) Description of the Art        
As wireless data transmission advances, more and more services are transferred to be performed through different wireless networks. Technical limitations of wireless data transmission are the reason for the fact that for different services, different types of networks have typically been developed. For instance, it is sensible to technically implement wide-band wireless data transmission directed to one terminal as a short-range network only. To utilize the services in each network, several network-specific applications have typically been developed, the applications being typically available only on terminals designed specifically for the network. In addition, interfaces between the terminals and the various network elements have typically been designed specifically for each network. Lately, the trend to converge various fixed and wireless services has brought about new solutions for, integrating the different terminals. It is, for instance, possible to receive digital broadcasting services, such as digital audio broadcasting (DAB) or digital video broadcasting (DVB) by means of an additional card connected to a personal computer (PC). Solutions are also known, in which a computer and a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface card have been connected to the same terminal. Solutions have also been developed for connecting a WLAN card to a mobile station of a cellular radio network, such as the GSM network.
The convergence of different telecommunications networks and services and integration of terminals makes it possible to receive the services provided traditionally by a certain network also through another network. For instance, receiving digital radio and TV broadcasts on a computer through an Internet connection is possible by means of the above-mentioned interface cards. Correspondingly, connecting a wide-band WLAN card to a mobile station makes it possible to receive video images through a conventional mobile station. A tendency can clearly be seen in the development, in which the services provided by various networks will in the future be provided through the Internet either by wire or wirelessly.
According to prior art, when a user of a terminal wants to use a service provided by a wireless telecommunications network, he first selects the network through which he wants to establish a connection to the service provider. In addition, in some cases the user of a terminal can define certain telecommunications parameters, such as the data transmission rate to be used, in which case the use of a higher data transmission rate naturally costs more. In addition, various telecommunications settings have typically been defined for a user of a terminal by service providers of each network, the settings defining the telecommunications parameters used in the data transmission connection between the terminal and the network, for instance, and service settings which define the services that the user has ordered and to which the user has registered. A user of a terminal can thus have one set of telecommunications and service settings within the mobile network, a second set of settings within the wireless local area network and a third set within the digital radio network.
A problem with the arrangement described above is that despite the fact that an integrated terminal provides a possibility to receive services through different networks, the user of the terminal must select the desired network and telecommunications parameters to be used. A mobile user of a wireless terminal must then have information on the wireless networks available in each area and the values of the telecommunications parameters enabled by them. Connecting to different network environments is to a large extent dependent on the know-how of the terminal user, and the network services do not support the configuration of the customer's terminal to teleservices of various networks and through them, to content services.
It is, for instance, an aim in the standardization of third-generation (3G) mobile systems to identify the requirements and technical specifications of the radio interface, with which the requirements of a telecommunications connection can be met through the same technical access technology (technical specifications of the air interface) in all environments, such as rural and urban areas, and indoors, such as corporate and home environments. One such 3G system is the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and its radio access network, the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). In defining the UTRAN, several propositions have been made for the specifications of a uniform radio interface. The propositions differ from each other mainly in the many access technologies. Such network access technologies include the FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). All propositions are based on a combination of various technologies. These combination.are compared with the radio network requirements and the final decision on the technology to be used will be based on the results of these comparisons. It seems, however, that several different radio access technologies will be taken into use. For this reason, solutions which enable roaming between different (local) solutions have also been examined. One suggestion was to standardize a common global broadcasting channel which indicates to a mobile terminal which air interface technology (radio interface) is used in each environment. The differences in mobile systems can thus also cause the problems described above for a terminal and a user.